Skandha
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The five skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli) are the five "aggregates" which categorize or constitute all individual experience according to Buddhist phenomenology. An important corollary in Buddhism is that a "person" is made up of these five aggregates, beyond which there is no "self."
In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or otherwise clings to an aggregate; hence, suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. The Mahayana tradition further puts forth that ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the intrinsically empty nature of all aggregates.
Outside of Buddhist didactic contexts, "skandha" can mean mass, heap, bundle or tree trunk.<ref>Thanissaro (2002). Also see, for example, Thanissaro (2005) where khandha is translated as "mass" in the phrase dukkhakkhandha (which Thanissaro translates as "mass of stress") and Thanissaro (1998) where khandha is translated as "aggregate" but in terms of bundling the Noble Eightfold Path into the categories of virtue (silakkhandha), concentration (samadhikkhandha) and wisdom (pannakkhandha).</ref>
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[edit] Definition
Buddhist doctrine describes five aggregates:<ref>Contemporary writers (such as Trungpa Rinpoche and Red Pine) sometimes conceptualize the five aggregates as "one physical and four mental" aggregates. More traditional Buddhist literature (such as the Abhidhamma) might speak of one physical aggregate (form), three mental factors (sensation, perception and mental formations) and consciousness.</ref>
- "form" or "matter" (Skt., Pāli rūpa):
external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs.<ref>External and internal manifestations of rupa are described, for instance, in Bodhi (2000b), p. 48.</ref> - "sensation" or "feeling" (Skt., Pāli vedanā):
sensing an object<ref>In these definitions, "object" refers to either a cognized form (what Western epistemologists might refer to as "sense data") or a mental expression, such as a cognized memory.</ref> as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.<ref>The Pali canon universally identifies that vedana involves the sensing or feeling of something as pleasant or unpleasant or neutral (see, for instance, SN 22). When contemporary authors elaborate on vedana, they define it similarly (see, for instance, Nhat Hanh, 1999, p. 178; Trungpa, 2001, p. 21; and, Trungpa, 2002, p. 126). The one exception is in Trungpa (1976), pp. 20-23, where he states that the "strategies or impluses" of "indifference, passion and aggression" are "part of the third stage [aggregate]," "guided by perception." (This section of Trungpa, 1976, is anthologized in Trungpa, 1999, pp. 55-58.)</ref><ref>Generally, vedanā is considered to not include "emotions." For example, Bodhi (2000a), p. 80, writes: "The Pali word vedanā does not signify emotion (which appears to be a complex phenomenon involving a variety of concomitant mental factors), but the bare affective quality of an experience, which may be either pleasant, painful or neutral." Perhaps somewhat similarly, Trungpa (1999), p.58, writes: "Consciousness [the fifth aggregate] consists of emotions and irregular thought patterns...." And Trungpa (2001), p. 32, notes: "In this case 'feeling' is not quite our ordinary notion of feeling. It is not the feeling we take so seriously as, for instance, when we say, 'He hurt my feelings.' This kind of feeling that we take so seriously belongs to the fourth and fifth skandhas of concept and consciousness."</ref> - "perception" or "cognition" (Skt. samjñā, Pāli saññā):
registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).<ref>From samyutta-ñana, conditioned knowledge.[citation needed]</ref><ref>It is ordinarily conditioned by ones past sankhara, and therefore conveys a coloured image of reality.[citation needed]</ref><ref>In the practice of vipassana, sañña is changed into pañña, the understanding of reality as it is. It becomes anicca-sañña, dukkha-sañña, anatta-sañña, asubha-sañña--that is, the perception of impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and of the illusory nature of physical beauty.[citation needed]</ref> - "mental formations" or "volition" (Skt. samskāra, Pāli sankhāra) :
all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.<ref>The Abhidhamma divides sankhāra into fifty mental factors (Bodhi, 2000a, p. 26). Trungpa (2001), pp. 47ff, states that there are fifty-one "general types" of samskara.</ref><ref>Sankhāra are the source of karma.[citation needed]</ref> - "consciousness" (Skt. vijñāna, Pāli viññāṇa<ref>According to the Visuddhimagga XIV.82, the Pali terms viññāṇa, citta and mano are synonymous (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 453). However, Trungpa (2001, p. 73) distinguishes between viññāṇa and citta, stating that viññāṇa (consciousness) is "articulated and intelligent" while citta (mind) is a "simple instinctive function .... very direct, simple and subtle at the same time."</ref>):
- (a) In the Nikayas: cognizance.<ref>See, for instance, SN 22.79, "Being Devoured" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 915).</ref><ref>In commenting on the use of "consciousness" in SN 22.3[1], Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1046-7, n. 18, states:
"The passage confirms the privileged status of consciousness among the five aggregates. While all the aggregates are conditioned phenomena marked by the three characteristics, consciousness serves as the connecting thread of personal continuity through the sequence of rebirths.... The other four aggregates serve as the 'stations for consciousness' (vinnanatthitiyo: see [SN] 22:53-54). Even consciousness, however, is not a self-identical entity but a sequence of dependently arisen occasions of cognizing; see MN I 256-60."
</ref> - (b) In the Abhidhamma: a series of rapidly changing interconnected discrete acts of cognizance.<ref>This conception of consciousness is found in the Theravada Abhidhamma (Bodhi, 2000a, p. 29).</ref>
- (c) In Mahayana sources: the base that supports all experience.<ref>While not necessarily contradicted by the Nikayas, this is a particularly Mahayana statement. For instance, Nhat Hanh (1999, pp. 180-1) states: "Consciousness here means store consciousness, which is at the base of everything we are, the ground of all of our mental formations." Similarly, Trungpa (2001, pp. 73-4) states that consciousness "is the finally developed state of being that contains all the previous elements.... [C]onsciousness constitutes an immediately available source of occupation for the momentum of the skandhas to feed on."</ref>
- (a) In the Nikayas: cognizance.<ref>See, for instance, SN 22.79, "Being Devoured" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 915).</ref><ref>In commenting on the use of "consciousness" in SN 22.3[1], Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1046-7, n. 18, states:
See Table 1 for examples of definitional references to the aggregates in Buddhist primary sources.
In the Pali canon, the aggregates are causally related as follows:<ref>See, for instance, SN 35.93, "The Dyad (2)" (Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 1172-3).</ref>
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In this scheme, form, the mental aggregates,<ref>Form and the mental aggregates together are technically referred to as nāmarūpa, which is variously defined as "name-and-form," "materiality-mentality" and "matter-mind." Bodhi (2000b), pp. 47-48, mentions that Ñāṇamoli translated nāmarūpa as "mentality-materiality," which Bodhi assesses to be "[i]n some respects ... doctrinally more accurate, but it is also unwieldy...." Bodhi goes on to note that, "in the Nikāyas, nāmarūpa does not include consciousness (viññāṇa)."</ref> and consciousness are mutually dependent.<ref>According to Bodhi (2000b), p. 48, based on suttas in SN 14, consciousness "can operate only in dependenece on a physical body (rūpa) and in conjunction with its constellation of concomitants (nāma); conversely, only when consciousness is present can a compound of material elements function as a sentient body and the mental concomitants participate in cognition." Also, for example, see the Nagara Sutta ("The City," SN 12:65) (Thanissaro, 1997a), where the Buddha in part states: "[F]rom name-&-form as a requisite condition comes consciousness, from consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form."</ref> <p> Other Buddhist literature has described the aggregates as arising in a linear or progressive fashion, from form to feeling to perception to mental formations to consciousness.<ref>For an example of this unidirectional, linear causal model, see Trungpa (2001), pp. 36-37, where, in part, he states: "The first flash is the form and the next, feeling. As you flash further and further, the content becomes more and more involved. When you flash perception, that contains feeling and form; when you flash consciouness that contatins all the other four."</ref>
[edit] Theravada perspectives
Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000b, p. 840) states that an examination of the aggregates has a "critical role" in the Buddha's teaching for multiple reasons, including:
- Understanding the Four Noble Truths: The five aggregates are the "ultimate referent" in the Buddha's elaboration on suffering (dukkha) in his First Noble Truth (see excerpted quote below) and "since all four truths revolve around suffering, understanding the aggregates is essential for understanding the Four Noble Truths as a whole."
- Future Suffering's Cause: The five aggregates are the substrata for clinging and thus "contribute to the causal origination of future suffering."
- Release: Clinging must be removed from the five aggregates in order to achieve release.
Below, excerpts from the Pāli literature will bear out Bhikkhu Bodhi's assessment.<ref>In regards to how Theravada practioners view the aggregates, Bodhi (2000b, p. 840) cautions:
- "[T]he analysis into the aggregates undertaken in the Nikayas is not pursued with the aim of reaching an objective, scientific understanding of the human being along the lines pursued by physiology and psychology.... For the Buddha, investigation into the nature of personal existence always remains subordinate to the liberative thrust of the Dhamma...."
Likewise, Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2002) underlines:
- "The [Pāli] canon depicts the Buddha as saying that he taught only two topics: suffering and the end of suffering (SN 22.86[2]). A survey of the Pali discourses shows him using the concept of the khandhas to answer the primary questions related to those topics: What is suffering? How is it caused? What can be done to bring those causes to an end?"
In other words, Theravada practitioners do not see the notion of the aggregates as providing an absolute truth about ultimate reality or as a map of the mind, but instead as providing a tool for understanding how our method of apprehending sensory experiences and the self can lead to either our own suffering or to our own liberation.</ref>
[edit] Suffering's ultimate referent
In the Buddha's first discourse, the "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta" ("The Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth Discourse," SN 56:11 [3]), he provides a classic elaboration on the first of his Four Noble Truths, "The Truth of Suffering" (Dukkhasacca):
- "The Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha), monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering — in brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering." [Boldface added.] (Trans. from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera, 1999 [4].)
According to Thanissaro (2002):
- "Prior to the Buddha, the Pali word khandha had very ordinary meanings: A khandha could be a pile, a bundle, a heap, a mass. It could also be the trunk of a tree. In his first sermon, though, the Buddha gave it a new, psychological meaning, introducing the term 'clinging-khandhas' to summarize his analysis of the truth of stress and suffering. Throughout the remainder of his teaching career, he referred to these psychological khandhas time and again."[5]
In what way are the aggregates suffering? For this we can turn to Khandhavagga suttas.
[edit] Future suffering's cause
The Samyutta Nikaya contains a book entitled the "Khandhavagga" ("The Book of Aggregates") compiling over a hundred suttas related to the five aggregates. Typical of these suttas is the "Upadaparitassana Sutta" ("Agitation through Clinging Discourse," SN 22:7), which states in part:
- "...[T]he instructed noble disciple ... does not regard form [or other aggregates] as self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form. That form of his changes and alters. Despite the change and alteration of form, his consciousness does not become preoccupied with the change of form.... [T]hrough non-clinging he does not become agitated." (Trans. by Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 865-866.)
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Put another way, if we were to self-identify with an aggregate then we would cling (upadana)<ref>Note that, in Buddhism, one clings to (guards) something they have (or mistakenly believe they have) whereas one craves (searches) for that which they lack. (See the articles on upadana and tanha for references.) Thus, the notion of the "clinging aggregates" refers to things with which we identify or which we think we can possess. When, instead, one desires such, it is technically craving, not clinging.</ref> to such; and, given that all aggregates are impermanent (anicca), it would then be likely that at some level we would experience agitation (paritassati) or loss or grief or stress or suffering (see dukkha). Therefore, if we want to be free of suffering, it is wise to experience the aggregates clearly, without clinging or craving (tanha), as apart from any notion of self (anatta). Many of the suttas in the Khandhavagga express the aggregates in the context of the following sequence:
In other words, references to "clinging" in terms of the aggregates generally refer to "'clinging to a doctrine of self."</ref>
(Note that, in each of the suttas where the above formula is used, subsequent verses replace "form" with each of the other aggregates: sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness.) |
To give a simplistic example, if one believes "this body is mine" or "I exist within this body," then as their body ages, becomes ill and approaches death, such a person will likely experience longing for youth or health or eternal life, will likely dread aging and sickness and death, and will likely spend much time and energy lost in fears, fantasies and ultimately futile activities. In the Nikayas, such is likened to shooting oneself with a second arrow, where the first arrow is a physical phenomenon (such as, in this case, a bodily manifestation associated with aging or illness or dying) and the second is the mental anguish of the undisciplined mind associated with the physical phenomenon (see the Sallatha Sutta<ref>On-line translations of the Sallatha Sutta ("The Arrow" or "The Dart," SN 36.6) include Thanissaro (1997c) and Nyanaponika (1998).</ref>). On the other hand, one with a disciplined mind who is able to see this body as a set of aggregates will be free of such fear, frustration and time-consuming escapism.<ref>For a more body-specific meditation method for developing detachment from bodily forms, see Patikulamanasikara.</ref> </table> But how does one become aware of and then let go of ones own identification with or clinging to the aggregates? Below is an excerpt from the classic Satipatthana Sutta that shows how traditional mindfulness practices can awaken understanding, release and wisdom.<ref>Unlike the Satipatthana Sutta, the classic Anapanasati Sutta ("Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse," MN 118) does not directly reference the aggregates. However, the Pali literature includes works that interpret the Anapanasati Sutta in light of the aggregates.
Regarding this instruction, the Patisambhidāmagga (Ñāṇamoli, 1998, p. 75) analyzes the word "body" (kaya) as follows:
In other words, the Patisambhidāmagga frames the practice of the Anapanasati Sutta's third step as a contemplation of the five aggregates.
In regards to this instruction, the Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa, 1999, pp. 282-3; see also Ñāṇamoli, 1998, p. 40) advises one to apprehend "inconstancy" (or "impermanence") as meaning the following:
Impermanence (anicca) is a characteristic common to all aggregates. This impermanence will lead to suffering (dukkha) if we identify with the aggregate. To avoid such suffering, the suttas instruct us to see the aggregates as the selfless (anatta) objects they are. </ref> [edit] Release through aggregate-contemplationIn the classic Theravada meditation reference, the "Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta" ("The Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse," MN 10), the Buddha provides four bases for establishing mindfulness: body (kaya), sensations (vedana), mind (citta) and mental objects (dhamma). When discussing mental objects as a basis for meditation, the Buddha identifies five objects, including the aggregates. Regarding meditation on the aggregates, the Buddha states:
Thus, through mindfulness contemplation, one sees an "aggregate as an aggregate" -- sees it arising and dissipating. Such clear seeing creates a space between the aggregate and clinging, a space that will prevent or enervate the arising and propagation of clinging, thereby diminishing future suffering.<ref>That meditation creates a space between the aggregates (including clinging) is a readily accessible meditation experience. For a published authoritative statement regarding this experience, see, for example, Trungpa (2001), pp. 85-86, where in response to a student's query he replies: "By meditating you are slowing down the process. When it has slowed down, the skandhas are no longer pushed against one another. There is space there, already there."</ref> As clinging disappears, so too notions of a separate "self." In the Mahasunnata Sutta ("The Greater Discourse on Emptiness," MN 122), after reiterating the aforementioned aggregate-contemplation instructions (for instance, "Thus is form; thus is the arising of form; and, thus is the disappearance of form"), the Buddha states:
In a complementary fashion, in the Buddha's second discourse, the Anattalakkhana Sutta ("The Characteristic of Nonself," SN 22:59), the Buddha instructs:
As seen below, the Mahayana tradition continues this use of the aggregates to achieve self-liberation. [edit] Mahayana perspectivesIn one of Mahayana Buddhism's most famous declarations, the aggregates are referenced:
What does this mean? To what degree is it a departure from the aforementioned Theravada perspective? Moreover, more generally, how are the aggregates used in the Mahayana literature? These questions are addressed below. [edit] The intrinsic emptiness of all thingsThe classic "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Heart Sutra") begins:
From its very first verse, the Heart Sutra introduces an alternative practice and worldview to the Theravada perspective of the aggregates:
In other words, whereas the Sutta Pitaka typically instructs one to apprehend the aggregates without clinging or self-identification, Prajnaparamita leads one to apprehend the aggregates as having no intrinsic reality.<ref>While Red Pine (2004) contextualizes the Prajnaparamita texts as a historical reaction to some early Buddhist Abhidhammas, some interpretations of the Theravada Abhidhamma are consistent with the prajnaparamita notion of "emptiness."</ref> In the Heart Sutra's second verse, after rising from his aggregate meditation, Avalokiteshvara declares:
Thich Nhat Hanh interprets this statement as:
Red Pine comments:
[edit] Tangibility and transcendenceCommenting on the Heart Sutra, D.T. Suzuki notes:
That is, from the Mahayana perspective, the aggregates convey the relative (or conventional) experience of the world by an individual, although Absolute truth is realized through them. [edit] Vajrayana perspectivesThe Vajrayana tradition further develops the aggregates in terms of mahamudra epistemology and tantric reifications. [edit] The truth of our insubstantialityReferring to mahamudra teachings, Chogyam Trungpa (Trungpa, 2001, pp. 10-12; and, Trungpa, 2002, pp. 124, 133-4) identifies the form aggregate as the "solidification" of ignorance (Pali, avijja; Skt., avidya), allowing one to have the illusion of "possessing" ever dynamic and spacious wisdom (Pali, vijja; Skt. vidya), and thus being the basis for the creation of a dualistic relationship between "self" and "other."<ref>This type of analysis of the aggregates (where ignorance conditions the five aggregates) might be akin to that described by the Twelve Nidanas.</ref> According to Trungpa Rinpoche (1976, pp. 20-22), the five skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe experience as a five-step process" and that "the whole development of the five skandhas...is an attempt on our part to shield ourselves from the truth of our insubstantiality," while "the practice of meditation is to see the transparency of this shield." (ibid, p.23) [edit] Bardo deity manifestationsTrungpa Rinpoche writes (2001, p. 38):
Perhaps it is in this sense that the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Fremantle & Trungpa, 2003) makes the following associations between the aggregates and tantric deities during the bardo after death:
[edit] Relation to other Buddhist conceptsOther fundamental Buddhist concepts associated with the five skandhas include:
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